Monday, April 30, 2007

I would often run right by the south entrance, during cross-country practice after school, and I probably did that about a thousand times, too.

Bought ALL of my running gear (still do, for that matter) at a great little mom-and-pop store, that is still in business, there.

I was in there, not but a few weeks ago, getting some additional foul weather gear...

and I was armed.

Not that that is too shocking, but the fact that most people who know of my tendency to carry often question its utility. I'm curious if anyone has maybe changed their minds after this. I've never thought any differently, and this incident is surely not going to dissuade me from doing so in the future.

Hopefully, I'll never need to use my piece, but I like knowing that it's there, just in case.

Of course, this whole incident will be chaulked up as nothing more than yet another conspiracy by the EvilBushCheneyHalliburton Corporation for Global domination, since it will be proven, by seeeeerious analysis by these same dolts, that the fire wasn't actually a gasoline fire, but powered by thermite, and intentionally set, of course, or some other rot.

Morons.

Update, 10:22AM: Sharp as a Marble has posted on this impossibility as well.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Alas, those who believe that their gun-embracing compatriots pose a clear and present public danger by misinterpreting the true meaning of the Second Amendment will be disappointed to learn that some of the ablest legal minds in the land disagree with them.

Ya know, when dolts like this guy start spouting off tripe like this, it's really because he is convinced that he's smarter than the rest of us plebeians, and I'd just love to prove him wrong.

And another thing; who fucking cares what "some of the ablest legal minds in the land" have to say about the second amendment, at all?

I know what it means, and I don't need some mealy-mouthed lout, most especially a lawyer, of any stripe, who is a practiced professional at the art of lying, BTW, telling me the "true meaning" of anything. Most definitely not my rights, as outlined, not guaranteed, by the Bill of Rights. Lot of fucking good it's doing, but it's there, in black-and-white to read, though its "meanings" are obviously up for debate, according to this nitwit.

And this just in...

TOKYO (Reuters) - The mayor of the Japanese city of Nagasaki was shot and critically wounded on Tuesday, and police have arrested a member of a criminal syndicate as a suspect, officials said.

Itcho Ito, 61, seeking re-election for a fourth term in Sunday's election, was shot by a man in front of his campaign office just before 8:00 p.m. (1100 GMT), a city official said.

Ito was taken to hospital by ambulance after being shot more than once in the back, Nagasaki police said, adding the mayor was undergoing an operation.

The police told a news conference they had arrested Tetsuya Shiroo, 59, a senior member of gang affiliated with Japan's largest crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi Gumi, on suspicion of attempted murder, and confiscated a revolver he had with him.

The motive for the shooting was unclear, but Shiroo was upset at the city's handling of a traffic accident four years ago in which Shiroo's car was damaged as it passed by a public works construction site, public broadcaster NHK said.

NHK reported that Ito's lungs and heart had stopped functioning, and other TV footage showed the mayor lying face down with his eyes closed as paramedics performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

"I hope that the truth be revealed through vigilant investigation by authorities," Kyodo news agency quoted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as saying after news of the shooting.

STRICT GUN CONTROL

Japan has very strict gun control laws and firearms are mostly in the hands of "yakuza" gangsters or hunters.

NHK footage showed police subduing the suspect and putting him in a car. Later, investigators gathered evidence after the shooting while security guards took up posts at the scene.

"It looked as if the mayor was limp on a stretcher. A medic was giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation," Kyodo quoted a 22-year-old male university student as saying at the scene.

In 1990, then-mayor Hitoshi Motoshima was shot by a member of a right-wing group after making comments that Emperor Hirohito should be held liable for war responsibilities.

"Whatever the reason, violence cannot be tolerated," Motoshima told a TV program after Ito was shot.

"It's a disgrace for Nagasaki."

Nagasaki, on the southernmost main island of Kyushu, was the second city to suffer an atomic bombing by the United States on August 9, 1945.

Ito had previously been critical of U.S. nuclear arms policies and has been a strong advocate of Japan sticking to its decades-old ban on nuclear arms.

Last year, on the August 9 anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city, Ito criticized North Korea for their nuclear programs and had harsh words for the United States for failing to halt nuclear proliferation.

In October, 2002, lower house member Koki Ishii was stabbed to death by a member of a right-wing group in front of his house in Tokyo, the last known murder of a politician in the country.

(Additional reporting by Linda Sieg and Elaine Lies)

Now tell me, how is it that someone got a gun, in Japan of all places, and shot the mayor?HOW?!!!

Did anyone notice that the article says that the government admits, implicitly, that it can not control the acquisition and use of firearms by the criminal element? Where is the outrage at this fact?

Consider the source

Posted in its entirety, via Yahoo!;

"By PAISLEY DODDS 1 hour, 12 minutes ago

LONDON - The deadly university rampage in Virginia that killed 33 people sent shock waves around the world Tuesday with newspapers and talk shows delving into the American psyche and raising questions about lax gun controls in the United States.

The gun control debate echoed across Europe, which has some of the toughest gun laws in the world.

"I would like to express on behalf of Britain and the British people our profound sadness at what has happened and to send the American people and most especially, of course, the families of the victims, our sympathy and our prayers," Blair said.

Two professors from India and Israel were among the dead at the Virginia Tech shooting, the deadliest in U.S. history.

LiviuLibrescu, 75, an engineering science and mathematics lecturer tried to stop the gunman from entering his classroom by blocking the door before he was fatally shot, his son said Tuesday from Tel Aviv, Israel.

"My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee," Joe Librescu said in a telephone interview of his father, who immigrated to Israel from Romania, and then moved to Virginia for his sabbatical.

A 51-year-old Indian-born lecturer in the engineering department was also among the dead, the man's brother told Indian media.

Most expressed shock at the shooting but few said they were surprised — criticizing the availability of guns in the U.S., lax gun controls and the number of Americans who cling to the constitutional right that allows them to bear arms.

"The Queen was shocked and saddened to hear of the news of the shooting in Virginia," Buckingham Palace said. Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, are scheduled to visit Virginia May 3-4.

British Home Office Minister, Tony McNulty, earned a masters degree in political science at Virginia Tech in 1982.

"I think if this does prompt a serious and reflective debate on gun issues and gun law in the states then some good may come from this woeful tragedy," McNulty said.

Many families expressed relief when they heard their children were safe. Some were still waiting for news.

"He sounded OK. I think they had been very shocked all day — struggling to get in touch with their friends," Charles Barnwell of Birmingham, England, whose son George, 20, was locked in his dormitory with eight friends during the shooting.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said the shooting underscored the problems of a U.S. "gun culture."

Howard staked his political leadership on pushing through tough laws on gun ownership in Australia after a lone gunman went on one of the world's deadliest killing sprees 11 years ago in his country.

"We took action to limit the availability of guns and we showed a national resolve that the gun culture that is such a negative in the United States would never become a negative in our country," he said.

The Times of London ran an editorial delving into the American psyche and the weak gun laws across the country.

"Why, we ask, do Americans continue to tolerate gun laws and a culture that seems to condemn thousands of innocents to death every year, when presumably, tougher restrictions, such as those in force in European countries, could at least reduce the number?"

Gun crime is extremely rare in Britain, and handguns are completely illegal. The ban is so strictly enforced that Britain's Olympic pistol shooting team is barred from practicing in its own country.

Britain's 46 homicides involving firearms was the lowest total since the late 1980s. New York City, with 8 million people compared to 53 million in England and Wales, recorded at least 579 homicides last year.

"What exactly triggered the massacre in Virginia is unclear but the fundamental reason is often the perpetrator's psychological problems in combination with access to weapons," Swedish daily Goteborgs-Posten commented.

The shooting drew intense coverage by media in China, in part because the school has a relatively large Chinese student body and because U.S. reports said the gunman may have been Chinese or Asian.

Private citizens are forbidden from owning guns in China.

"Why are there were so many shooting incidents in American schools and universities?" said a comment posted on the popular Internet portal Sohu.com. "People should think why an American-educated student would take revenge against America?"

Yuan Peng, an American studies expert, was quoted by state-run China Daily as saying the shooting illustrated America's problems with gun control and a lack of security at American universities.

"This incident reflects the problem of gun control in America," said Yuan, from the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, a Beijing-based think tank.

Only 7 percent of the more than 26,000 students at Virginia Tech are foreign, according to the school web site. But Chinese undergraduate and graduate students comprise nearly a third of that. There are about 600 or so students and teachers and their family members from China at the school, said Xue, the Chinese student union president.

In Italy, leading daily Corrieredella Sera's ran an opinion piece entitled "Guns at the Supermarket" — a critical view of the U.S. gun lobby and the ease with which guns can be purchased.

"The latest attack on a U.S. campus will shake up America, maybe it will provoke more vigorous reactions than in the past, but it won't change the culture of a country that has the notion of self-defense imprinted on its DNA and which considers the right of having guns inalienable," Corriere wrote in its front-page story.

In Italy, there are three types of licenses for gun ownership: for personal safety, target practice and skeet shooting, and hunting. Authorization is granted by the police. To obtain a gun for personal safety, the owner must be an adult and have a "valid" reason.

Several Italian graduate students at Virginia Tech recounted how they barricaded themselves inside a geology department building not far from the scene of the shooting.___Associated Press Writers Charles Hutzler, AlexandruAlexe, Raphael Satter, Robert Barr, Karl Ritter, Nicole Winfield and Gavin Rabinowitz contributed to this report."

Jeezis! How many lies and quotes from furriners can you put in to one piece-of-shit article anyway?

I'm not even going to try to fisk this, as there is just so much to bite at, I am uncertain as to where to start.

Monday, April 16, 2007

A) since it was written by a "journalist" at a large city newspaper, and

B) the story is about guns, the evil NRA, and

C) is also about politics, and who the evil NRA is going to put into the White House come '08

the story can't be painted in anything other than a negative light, and of course, we have to stump for Sir Hillary, by showing that she is indeed a gun-control supporter.

FWIW, I simply was revolted at this quote, "For the NRA, Bush was a dream come true — you’re either for or against guns, no in-between,” said Wayne Fields of the American Culture Studies program at Washington University in St. Louis."

Bush, a dream come true? FOR WHOM, I ask? Surely NOT gun-owners.

Pathetic.

Yes, Fred Thompson is about the best choice so far, and as mentioned, is being treated for cancer, so his prospects aren't too good right now. HE would be a good choice for gun owners. The next best candidate, in my view (he's officially running, anyway) is Tom Tancredo, from Colorado, who I witnessed on C-Span just yesterday, telling the Diplo-scoundrels at the UN to either shape up, or he would personally see to it that they would be shipped out, if elected.

Ding, ding! WE HAVE A WINNER.

I'm so fed up living within a blue speck, when surrounded by a sea of red. I've simply got to get the family moved to friendlier territory.

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Movie: Shooter

Generally, it was entertaining and it wasn't bad, with good effects and the production value was high, but there were at least a couple of occurances of "Bullshit" getting openly called out by yours truly, although I did do it quietly, so as not to raise the ire of other patrons. Shooting through the glass, with a silenced rifle, at the Colonel, the bodyguards and the Senator (superbly played by Ned Beatty, BTW) towards the end of the movie is on the edge of credibility, to name but one instance. I'm also curious about the supposed differences in the firing pin thing, that the whole crux of his defense rests on. I'm not a firearms designer, nor a machinist, but my guess is that it's not nearly as effective as it was portrayed in the movie.

The plot was believable enough, I suppose, and I'm guessing there was at least some borrowing of details of this story, as I've read at least one novel fairly recently that similarly uses a veteran as the patsy, in order to stage something quite similar, for the creation and funding of some kind of black-ops team, with zero accountability, the ear of the right person(s) high in some office and access to the latest hardware, all with the wrong attitude. Governmental Hooliganism at its finest, right?

I was really hoping for a little more pain and anguish in Swagger's character, more emotional torture, but the thugs killing his dog is pretty bad in my book, though I was glad they didn't actually show his dog getting it. I hate it when that happens.

I do agree with Les' remarks about Kate Mara (hubba, hubba), but I was not aware that Rhona Mitra had a small part as one of the Fibbie agents investigating the botched/framed shooting, falsely blamed on Swagger. Now she is hot! I just dig that dark hair, eyes, skin thing. Smoldering hardly begins to cover it. Wow!

Oddly, this movie has made me want to rush out and read the book, so I'm giving it a six out of ten. Looks like I'm adding more titles to my queue.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

I love it when the Unqualifieds™ start in with little quips about things they know nothing about, simply because they've wrongly assumed that they can think.

My ire grows with each passing day.

May death meet these fools soon.

BTW, I'm coining that title as a phrase too; Maximum Voltage + Dolt = Maximum Doltage. Perfect for describing idiots and leftists, since both types attempt to solve problems by turning up the power on their failed answers and/or invented problems.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Oh, the irony

Bloomberg says he'll veto ban on metal bats in NYC high schools

By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press WriterApril 2, 2007NEW YORK (AP) -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday he'll veto a bill to ban metal bats from high school baseball in the nation's largest school system, a change that supporters say would make the game slower and safer.

"I don't know whether aluminum bats are more dangerous or less dangerous," Bloomberg said. "But I don't think it's the city's business to regulate that."

It appeared, however, that the City Council would have enough votes to override a veto.Similar measures have been proposed by youth leagues and lawmakers in other states, including New Jersey, where a batted ball struck a 12-year-old boy in the chest, sending him into cardiac arrest.

Sponsors of New York City's bill, passed last month, say that non-wood bats lead to faster and harder hits and that this can be dangerous for young players in the path of the balls.

Opponents, including Little League Baseball and sporting goods makers, say there is no scientific evidence proving metal bats pose more of a risk than wooden bats. They say the anti-metal movement relies on emotional anecdotes over concrete data, and some have indicated they will take the matter to court.

Monday, April 02, 2007

"It's all the fault of the evil NRA/Gun Lobby and the profit-for-death gun manufacturer's in this country, and if we'd all just grow a pair and make them all stop producing death machines and outlaw guns, all of this 'senseless' violence would stop."

Does that about cover it?

I'm sure that the real story line is going to play out fairly close to that, with more calls for 'gun control' in the offing, given the predilections of the Leftist Softies in that particular corner of the world.

Load up, my friends.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Supreme Court ruled Monday that theEnvironmental Protection Agency must consider greenhouse gases as pollutants, in a blow to the White House.

"Because greenhouse gases fit well within the Clean Air Act's capacious definition of 'air pollutant' we hold that EPA has the statutory authority to regulate the emission of such gases from new motor vehicles," the court ruled.

Led by Massachusetts, a dozen states along with several US cities and environmental groups went to the courts to determine whether the agency had the authority to regulate greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide emissions.

"The harms associated with climate change are serious and well recognized," said judgeJohn Paul Stevens as the ruling was carried by five votes in favor to four against.

The Republican administration of US President George W. Bush has fiercely opposed any imposition of binding greenhouse limits on the nation's industry.

Environmentalists have alleged that since Bush came to office in 2001 his administration has ignored and tried to hide looming evidence of global warming and the key role of human activity in climate change.

As the issue has come to the fore in the US, the White House earlier this year issued a rare open letter defending Bush's record on climate change, rejecting criticisms that he has only recently awakened to the problem.

Monday's ruling was immediately hailed by environmental campaigners which has been fighting for greater regulations in a nation which accounts for a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions.

"It is a watershed moment in the fight against global warming," said Josh Dorner, spokesman for the Sierra Club environmental group.

"This is a total repudiation of the refusal of the Bush administration to use the authority he has to meet the challenge posed by global warming.

It also "sends a clear signal to the market that the future lies not in dirty, outdated technology of yesterday, but in clean energy solutions of tomorrow like wind, solar," he added.

As an act of civil disobedience, I'm going home tonight and letting the Mustang sit and idle in the driveway, until I'm content that I've done just about as much environmental damage as I can muster.

Oh, and another thing Dorner, since you obviously skipped class the day that the whole "market" thing was covered, it's simply quite impossible for you, or anyone else for that matter, to send that 'clear signal' to the market in the way that you are suggesting. If you don't get it, I simply can't explain it to you, because, frankly, you're too stupid to understand any of it, since it has to do with money and values, of which I'm sure you are deriding as being nothing more than 'evil' or 'conservative', in your parlance.

This guy just got a spot on my special 'list', just in case anyone else is wondering.

One more thing. After I shut off the carbureted 302 Ford under the Mustang's hood, and put it away after laying two black stripes on the tarmac in front of my house, I am going inside and loading a few more G3 mags for the PTR. How do you like that, fuckwad?